“As far as Teresa is concerned, that’s what you are. She thinks she’s found the way to buy what she wants from me. And you’re too intelligent not to realize that’s the way I have to go to get you out of here. You had to have picked up on that even before I got here.”
“Yes,” she admitted reluctantly. “She was all ready to serve me up on a silver platter. I was ready to choke her.”
“I’m glad you refrained.” His eyes were searching her face. “You don’t look as if you could take her down at the present moment.” He leaned forward and gently pushed back her hair and probed the muscles of her neck. “Hurt?”
She flinched. “A little. More stiff than anything else.”
He touched her cheek. “Bruise. From the wreck?”
She shook her head. “Santara’s gentle way of making sure I stayed awake. Teresa evidently thought I wouldn’t be as appetizing in a coma.”
“Santara…” His hand dropped away. “The list keeps getting longer and longer.” He leaned back in the chair. “No other injuries?”
“No.” She was silent. “I could have died in that car crash. Santara was … reckless. He didn’t care. I think he’s a little crazy, Caleb.”
“Probably. Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of it.”
Her lips twisted. “Just like you’re taking care of Teresa Romano? But you don’t know him as well as you do her, do you?”
His gaze was suddenly narrowed on her face. “What do you mean?”
“You were lovers.”
He was silent. “Is that what she told you?”
“Is it the truth?”
“What do you think?”
She moistened her lips. “I think you know each other very well. There’s an … intimacy.”
“Yes.”
She was beginning to wish she hadn’t said anything. It had tumbled out. “It’s none of my business.” But she couldn’t leave it alone. “I just don’t see how you could— She’s a terrible woman. Look what she did to Lisa. She was responsible for everything Santara did and—”
“I’m not going to make excuses,” he said, interrupting her. “Everything you say is true. She was a mistake. The only thing that wasn’t the truth is that we were lovers. It was a much … darker relationship.”
“I don’t want to hear about it. I said it wasn’t my business.”
“Oh, no, too late.” He was smiling recklessly. “You asked the question. You can’t go hide away when I answer it. The word lovers requires a certain emotion that was never there. Teresa never knew the meaning of the word; I knew it but had never experienced it. So when she decided to seduce me, I cooperated fully, but I admit to having been confused and uncertain about the nuances.”
“She seduced you? You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you. Seduction is your role in life.”
“One has to start somewhere.” He asked mockingly, “You’re thinking that our association was fairly recent? No, it was a long time ago.”
“How long ago?”
“I was quite young. Fourteen or fifteen, if I recall.”
“What?” She stared at him, stunned. “You’re joking.”
“No joke. I was intensely serious at the time. But I understand one is always serious with the first one. Yet since I’m by nature intense, I contend it struck me harder than most. I was isolated and very much alone and told constantly what a demon I was. It was refreshing to have someone who apparently wanted to be close to me in spite of my many faults.” He tilted his head. “And, of course, she was beautiful, an older, experienced woman, and sex was probably more of a factor than anything else. As I said, I was very confused at the beginning. However, I can assure you that we were not lovers.”
Was there something deeper hidden beneath that mockery? It was always hard to tell with Caleb. “She seduced a teenage boy? You said the Romanos were good friends with your parents. Why would she take the chance of their finding out?”
He chuckled. “I’d like to tell you that she found me totally irresistible and couldn’t help herself. But you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”
She might believe him. She could imagine that stormy, beautiful young boy who possessed all the passion and magnetism he did now. “I think she’s totally calculating and would have a reason for everything she did.”
“Exactly. This was no exception. Though she did enjoy me, Jane.”
“Why did she take the chance?” she repeated.
“She’s attracted to power. She pretended the same repulsion as my parents to my potential when she was with them, but she thought she might be able to use me in the future. She thought I was vulnerable and sex would seal the deal. So we had an interesting summer, until she realized that I wasn’t exactly what she thought I’d be.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had me pretty dizzy for a little while, but I wasn’t a fool. I could see the manipulation and the deceit.” He shrugged. “I’d had experience in that all my life. I wasn’t about to let her control me, as she wanted to do. Of course, the sex made it very tolerable until I figured out what to do about it.”
“I can see how it would,” she said drily.
“Why not? I deserved it. And I was angry with her. Though, actually, in retrospect, I realize I should have been grateful. I hadn’t had the opportunity to develop that Persuasion talent because of my limited opportunities up to that time. But I decided that there couldn’t be anything that Teresa would fear or hate worse than lack of control.” He smiled, reminiscing. “It took me four weeks. The experiments were fascinating and I enjoyed every one of them. But Teresa, not so much. She didn’t like the idea that she no longer dominated but instead felt she had to come to me, to do anything I wanted. She could see what direction we were going, that her control was slipping away. I could feel her fear.…” He leaned back in his chair. “It was enough. I gave her a push to end it.”
“What push?”
“I mentioned how much I was enjoying her and how upset I’d be if my parents sent me away to my uncle, as they’d threatened to do. The next week, my mother told me that I was going to Scotland. Evidently, Teresa had casually said she’d noticed that I was getting completely out of hand and suggested it might be better for me and for the family if I were sent away.”
“You manipulated that move to Scotland yourself,” she murmured wonderingly. “What a devious man you are, Caleb.”
“Yes. I’ve never denied it. But principally a survivor, and being devious is one of the apparatuses that make that possible.” He tilted his head. “And is this particular story of lies and manipulation filling you with your usual disgust at me again?”
She gazed at him in disbelief. “Are you crazy? Do you think I can’t see what that bitch was trying to do to you?” Her anger was growing with every word. “You were just a kid. Maybe around Cara’s age. Helpless to make—”
“I was never helpless, Jane.”
He wouldn’t admit it if he had been, Jane thought. “You could have been, for all she knew. She didn’t care. She was a grown woman and you were only a boy. She took advantage of the fact that— I’d like to strangle her. She’s worse than Santara and it’s—”
“Shh.” He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I pride myself on never being an ‘only’ anything. Yet I find I’m touched that you want to fight my dragons for me. But most of them were slain a long time ago.”
“Not her.” His touch was disturbing her, as usual, and she pulled her hand away. “She’s still here and trying to use you. She’s been in your life a long time. I’m surprised you let her take over guardianship of Lisa.”
“I had no choice unless I wanted to kill Teresa or go back to the game I’d already won over her. She and Gino wanted the executor fee for managing the estate. I looked the situation over and decided if I kept an eye on the situation that Lisa and Maria could have a decent life. Teresa had no desire to go up against me again and she would treat them well.” His lips thinned. “I didn’t count on her life being turned upside down and desperation giving her the impetus to go back to square one as far as I was concerned. She went on the attack.”